Digital RF Processor or Digital Radio Processor (DRP™) based transceivers are also known in the art. The performance of DRP based transmitters is typically limited by the quantization noise of the digital power amplifier (DPA). DPA architectures employing large bit widths, e.g., 10, 12 or more bits, incorporating many hundreds of transistors become unfeasible due to the level of quantization noise generated. The quantization noise generated is sufficient to cause the transmitter to fail to meet the specifications of cellular or other communications standards, depending on the particular application.
Sigma delta or delta sigma modulators are known in the art. Digital sigma delta modulators are currently used in CMOS wireless SoC designs to achieve high resolution data conversion while controlling the quantization noise spectrum. Conventional sigma delta modulators typically have a high pass transfer function. In other words, they amplify the noise (or push the noise into higher frequencies) as the frequency difference from the carrier frequency increases. In DRP applications, this characteristic is undesirable. In fact, the opposite is desired in certain frequency bands wherein noise is attenuated as the frequency increases from the center frequency.
Further, conventional sigma delta modulator structures designed to achieve such noise shaping are hardware intensive, are not designed to exhibit an arbitrary noise transfer function and typically do not meet the requirements of communication standards such as typical cellular standards.
Thus, there is a need for a technique for synthesizing a sigma delta modulator to have an arbitrary noise transfer function whereby quantization noise can be shifted from one frequency band to another. There is a further need for a DRP transmitter incorporating a spectral emission shaping sigma delta modulator that is able to shape the quantization noise of the transmitter so as to avoid certain frequency bands.